Four Indicted For International Arms Smuggling

April 11, 1985|United Press International

NEW YORK — Four men who operate an export firm were indicted Wednesday in an alleged arms smuggling scheme to sell guns, ammunition and night vision devices to the Soviet Union, Iraq and Argentina, the latter for use against the British in the Falklands War.

All four were charged with racketeering, conspiracy, wire-fraud, illegal exporting of arms, making false statements to a government agency and obstruction of justice.

A Manhattan firm the defendants allegedly operated, HLB Security Electronics Ltd., was also named in the indictment.

``They were a legitimate exporting company,`` said John Dearie, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District. ``But money turned them from a legitimate business into an illegitmate business.``

The indictment supersedes March 1984 charges against Berg and Schwartz which focused only on arms shipments to Poland.

The Customs Service said the men illegally supplied 1,300 night vision devices to Argentina during the 1982 South Atlantic war for Britain`s Falkland Islands.

The night vision devices were highly effective against British forces -- the Argentine troops reportedly had a few hundred -- during night fighting for the islands, which were eventually recovered by Britain.

The men made a $1 million profit from the $8 million illegal sale.

The men also allegedly smuggled weapons and ammunition to Europe for sale to Iraq between June and December of 1982, the Customs Service said. The service said the men had agreed to sell 500 automatic rifles and 100,000 rounds of ammunition to Poland in 1983 and 1984 and 400 night vision goggles to the Soviet Union, but the deal was never completed. The Soviet government was not involved, Dearie said.